FOR RELEASE:  July 22, 1994               CONTACT:   John Barclay
                                                   (202) 208-5890
                                                            or
                                                       Robin Cacy
                                                    (907)271-6010
               ALASKA UNIVERSITY AWARDED $159,213
                   TO STUDY OCEAN CIRCULATION (#40055)


     The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS)
today announced that it has awarded $159,213 to the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks, bringing total MMS 1994 funding of the
University's Coastal Marine Institute (CMI), in the School of
Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, to $1 million.  The school has
matched the amount, for total CMI funding of $2 million.

     MMS Director Tom Fry said the money will be used to conduct
research on winter circulation processes in the northeast Chukchi
Sea.  The Chukchi Sea is located off the northwest coast of Alaska
and north of the Bering Strait.  "This award will help MMS gather
the data we need to assure full protection of the marine
environment and will bolster the research capabilities of the
University.  It's a wise use of taxpayer dollars, and reflects this
administration's strong commitment to sound science as the basis
for all our resource decisions."

     MMS is the Interior Department agency which manages and
regulates the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources
on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and which collects and
disburses revenues from OCS leases and from onshore leases on
Federal and Indian lands.

                              -MMS-

Subject: PR-07/22/94 Alaska Univ. CMI/Alaska University Awarded
$159,213 to Study Ocean Circulation (#40055)